Fair Housing Group Wins Lawsuit Against St. Bernard Parish, LA

The Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (GNOFHAC) won a lawsuit on March 25 against St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana. The court found that a moratorium on building of multi-family housing implemented by the Parish violated both the Fair Housing Act and a Consent Order previously agreed to between the two entities.

James Perry, Executive Director of GNOFHAC and an NLIHC board member, said in a statement after the ruling, "Even before Hurricane Katrina local municipalities sought to limit affordable rental opportunities. These limitations have both strangled our recovery and limited housing opportunities for people of color and people with disabilities. Judge Berrigan's ruling today sends a strong message to elected officials in our region: officials must allow the development of affordable rental housing in our region."

A February 27, 2008, Consent Order upheld a GNOFHAC challenge to a multi-family moratorium enacted by St. Bernard after Hurricane Katrina, as well as an ordinance that restricted the rental of single-family residences in St. Bernard Parish to those related by blood to the owner of the property.

St. Bernard followed that Consent Order with another moratorium on September 16, 2008. The most recent moratorium also dealt with all multi-family developments with five or more units. Judge Berrigan decided that the moratorium violated both the Fair Housing Act and the Consent Order the Parish had entered into to settle GNOFHAC's challenge to the "blood relative" ordinance. The Court found the similarity between the blood relative ordinance and the moratorium "striking" and noted that the September 2008 multi-family moratorium was identical to the November 2005 multi-family moratorium challenged in GNOFHAC's lawsuit against the Parish.

A copy of the judge’s ruling is available at: www.nlihc.org/doc/233-Order-Rescinding-Ordinance.pdf